Albertz's pain ruins stroll for Rangers

Rangers advanced into the Champions' League group stage with a stuttering win over little Herfolge last night, but it was achieved at a cost.

Rangers advanced into the Champions' League group stage with a stuttering win over little Herfolge last night, but it was achieved at a cost.

Jörg Albertz, the Ibrox icon, was carried off after a brutal tackle and not even the flamboyant lob by Andrei Kanchelskis for the third goal in the last minute, nor a date at Europe's top table, could placate the angry fans.

With the Danes simply pursuing a policy of damage limitation, there was little room for Rangers to expose their opponents' lack of pace as they had in the first game in Denmark. In front of their own fans Rangers endured a punishing succession of tackles which saw Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Neil McCann badly bruised.

Rangers replaced the toiling Fernando Ricksen with Andrei Kanchelskis at half-time, and the deadlock was promptly broken three minutes into the second half, though the source was McCann and not the Ukrainian.

Jakup Mikkelsen came for the Scotland's winger's cross but never got close to it, allowing Rod Wallace the easiest of tasks to find the net with a header from six yards. However, any joy was tempered when Albertz was the victim of a late tackle by the Herfolge captain, Thomas Hoyer, in the 73rd minute.

That incident almost rendered the second goal from Allan Johnston meaningless. However, the former Sunderland winger showed a deft touch to hook Lorenzo Amoruso's header into the roof of net in the 78th minute.

Rangers (4-4-2): Klos; Ricksen (Kanchelskis, 46), Amoruso, Konterman, Van Bronckhorst; Reyna, B Ferguson, Albertz (Vidmar, 73), McCann; Dodds (Johnson, 73), Wallace. Substitutes not used: Brown (gk), Tugay, Porrini, Wilson.

Herfolge (4-5-1): Mikkelsen; Kastrup, Lykke, Lustü, Lubbers; Falck, Heyde, Hoyer, Jacobsen (Knudsen, 62), Schram (Jensen, 79); Jakobsen (Hermansen 71). Substitutes not used: Udengaard (gk), J Jensen, Henriksen, Avnskjold, Abel.

Referee: D Koren (Israel).